Pondering
by verbal acuity
Summary: EliClare - Eli and Clare ponder K.C. - oneshot.


Disclaimer: Degrassi isn't mine.

Just a little random oneshot I thought up for some reason. Don't know where it came from, honestly. Just wanted to write something where Clare explains K.C. to Eli without K.C. involving himself in their relationship.

**ALSO: I used to be with love - fred, just sayin'.**

* * *

+** Pondering** +

"So who's that guy?" Eli asked, only out of boredom. Clare had been staring coldly at that boy the past five minutes since free period started and Eli was curious as to why.

Clare blinked and looked away from the boy, finally, and set her blue eyes on the boy next to her. "Who?"

Rolling his eyes, Eli pointed to a tall kid with a beanie on his head, wearing a football jacket and laughing with his friends. "That kid," he said with a shrug. "You've been glaring at him and I want to know why. He seems nice enough. I mean, granted he's a jock-"

She leaned her head back and hit it against the locker behind her. "That's K.C."

"And please elaborate who exactly that is?"

Clare sighed. "He's my ex-boyfriend," she muttered quietly, looking at her little black flats.

Eli raised an eyebrow and looked back and forth from Clare to K.C. He was a little perplexed. "You dated a jock?" he finally settled on asking. She shrugged. "So," he thought about it for a moment, "why aren't you still dating?" But he left out the fact that if they were still dating he would have stolen her. One look into her pretty blue eyes and Eli was gone; he wouldn't have been able to just _get over her_ because she had some jock as a boyfriend.

"Oh," Clare said, shrugging again. "He cheated on me with my best friend." She said it so nonchalantly like someone would comment on the weather. "But that was last year. I'm different now," she said proudly.

Though she was over it, Eli wasn't. Who in their right mind would cheat on Clare Edwards? She was pure gold- an amazing catch. She was beyond beautiful, and so smart, and had a strong head on her shoulders. Only an idiot would pass that up. His fists clenched when he thought about it. A soft, dainty hand touched his and his fists loosened. He looked at her and she smiled so brightly he couldn't be pissed off about anything right then.

"Eli," she said softly, smile brightening the hallways. "It's okay. I have you now, remember?" He nodded slowly and pressed a small kiss to her forehead. She giggled and leaned her head on his shoulder. "All better?" she asked.

He nodded again. "Just tell me," his voice was serious. "How far did you go with this K.C. kid?"

She laughed. "We barely even kissed. He was always so gentle- like he really never liked me, or he was afraid he was going to break me, I'm not sure. But he'd only kissed me a few times, and that was mostly on the cheek." She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. "Why do you ask?"

He smirked. "Because I don't want anyone touching my Clare."

Clare's face turned a beautiful scarlet color and she turned away from him. They were silent, the only sounds coming from the loud voices of the football players. Eli spoke up finally. "What was it like after he cheated?" He wasn't sure why he was asking, he just wanted to know everything about this girl possible.

"I mostly hung out with Alli, Connor and Wesley, but Connor got busy with football... I creeped Wesley out, and Alli was too boy-crazy. So I became good friends with the library. K.C even tried talking to me once, telling me how sorry he was and that he was worried about me," she laughed. "I'm sure he was so worried."

Eli wrapped an arm around her shoulder and she slid closer to him. "But then I got a little crush," she whispered. "We worked together on the school play and... I kinda kissed his neck. Needless to say, his girlfriend wanted to eat me alive." Eli stiffened for a moment, then relaxed. "But after that, nothing happened. Oh. Well. K.C. did cheat off me to pass his test. But then he came clean, found me at the Dot, apologized... and told me that all his problems were because he left me."

"What an asshole," he muttered, glaring at the laughing jock across the hall.

Clare smiled softly. "But it's okay. I told him that I didn't care, and just left."

Leanind down slightly, he pressed a kiss to the crown of Clare's head, then leaned his cheek against it. "How did you two end up together anyway?"

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well..." A smirk spread across her face. "On his first day at Degrassi he sat at my lunch table- the table that only me and a few Gifted students sat at- and a bunch of students were on the stage, performing for caf entertainment. K.C. told me that I care too much about what people think and that was why I sat only with the Gifted students..."

Eli bit his lip- K.C.'s words were almost like his own- or rather, his words were almost like K.C.'s. No wonder Clare had seemed so shocked when he...

"I told him I didn't care what people thought," she continued, closing her eyes, wishing she could just forget. "And he told me to prove it. He wanted me to get up onstage and sing in front of the whole caf." Fists clenching, Eli was getting mad. In a way he did to Clare what K.C. did and he was regretting every second of it. "Determined, I went up there and sang a church hymn. Students threw stuff at me and I was finally dragged off the stage... I didn't want to see K.C. the rest of the day."

"Clare..."

"It's okay, Eli." She smiled up at him sadly. "It's in the past."

He kissed her cheek. "But I said the same exact words that he said to you... I feel like an asshole."

Clare laughed. "There's a reason for everything. Things turned out that way because I was meant to experience K.C, I was meant to learn how mean he could be. But that didn't mean that when we _were_ dating I didn't have fun. I had a lot of fun- the arguments we had beforehand only made our relationship sweeter and worthwhile. I don't regret anything," she said, looking into those entrancing green pools. "Just like I don't regret now. I'm glad you made me prove myself. If you hadn't, we wouldn't be as close as we are now."

Leaning down, Eli placed a quick, chaste kiss to her lips. "But you still hate K.C.?"

She shook her head slowly. "I don't hate him for what he did to me... I hate him for what he did to Jenna. He got her pregnant and then just... broke up with her. That's unforgivable."

"I can-"

"No. Don't even think about it," she said, knowing exactly what he was going to say. "Just shut up and kiss me, _boyfriend_."

"Twist my rubber arm, _girlfriend_."

* * *

This was kinda lame. Just felt like writing&&posting. Review.


End file.
